McCarthy, Papi, Virginia reach NCAA baseball championship

ERIC FRANCIS / ASSOCIATED PRESS Scranton graduate Joe McCarthy, center, and Virginia teammate Branden Cogswell, right, congratulate Brandon Downes (10) after he and McCarthy scored on a two-run single by Robbie Coman in the fourth inning against Mississippi on Saturday.

OMAHA, Neb. — You won’t hear any complaints from Virginia about TD Ameritrade Park. It seems this place was built for the Cavaliers, and they’re happy to get to hang around a few more days.

Josh Sborz and two relievers turned in another dominating pitching performance Saturday — limiting Mississippi to six singles — and Scranton’s Joe McCarthy worked a walk that sparked a three-run fourth inning before doubling home an insurance run in the seventh in a 4-1 victory that put Virginia in the College World Series final.

Virginia (52-14), in the CWS for the third time, will go to the championship round against Vanderbilt, which beat Texas, 4-3, in 10 innings Saturday night.

McCarthy finished the game

1 for 3 and also scored a run. Tunkhannock’s Mike Papi added a 1-for-3 day with a walk.

“This whole ride, playing with this group of guys and these coaches ... it’s unreal,” McCarthy said.

“It’s a great feeling to be able to get this game, move on to the national championship. But at the same time, we’re not satisfied. There’s a lot of work to be done. We know that we’re not done yet.”

The offense, which seems to have adapted well to the vast dimensions of TD Ameritrade Park, did plenty to back Virginia’s shutdown pitching staff.

The Cavaliers have allowed two earned runs in 33 innings in winning their three CWS games for an 0.55 ERA.

“It takes a lot of the pressure off (the offense) because we know that our pitchers are going to the job, and the guys hitting before us and after us are going to do the job as well,” McCarthy said.

The CWS record for lowest ERA in a series, in a minimum four games, is 0.60 by California in 1957.

“I thought we would be pretty darn good in Omaha on the mound. I really did,” coach Brian O’Connor said. “Obviously, the spacious ballpark and our ability to defend have a lot to do with it. What we’ve done all year is throw strikes. Our walk numbers are ridiculously low. And we’ve got really good arms.”

Virginia (52-14), in the CWS for the third time, will go to the championship round against Vanderbilt or Texas looking for its first national championship in baseball.

“Really, we’re just going to have to play our baseball to beat either one of them,” McCarthy said. “You get to this point of the season, you’re going to have to play perfect baseball.

The Rebels (48-21) lost to Virginia for a second time in the CWS, ending their first trip to Omaha since 1972.

“They make it very hard on you,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “Man, they’re good. They can really pitch, hit and play defense — an outstanding ballclub that deserved to win.”

Virginia, which had been batting .091 in the CWS with runners in scoring position, took a 3-1 lead in the fourth after McCarthy’s walk led to a bases-loaded rally against Chris Ellis (10-3). Robbie Coman drove Ellis’ 1-0 pitch into right field for two runs, and another came home on Branden Cogswell’s squeeze bunt.

McCarthy, who came to bat in the seventh 1 for 12 in the CWS, lined a double deep into the gap in right center for that fourth run.

“It felt good to just be able to come through for these guys. Have that at-bat for them,” he said. “Especially the walk in the one inning that led to the three runs. It felt great to be able to be a part of it.”

It was another good swing in the game from the sophomore right fielder. With a pair of runners on base and two outs in the first inning, he launched a fly ball to right that would have amounted to a three-run home run in plenty of other parks. Instead, Mississippi’s right fielder caught it for an out just short of the warning track.

“You can’t really complain because our pitchers have benefited from (the park), too,” McCarthy said. “I put a good swing on it, so just forget about it and move on to the next at-bat.”

Sborz (6-4) threw 12 pitches on Friday before a heavy thunderstorm forced suspension of the game in the second inning. He was on the mound when play resumed and worked through the fifth inning.

Artie Lewicki took over to start the sixth, and closer Nick Howard worked the ninth for his 20th save.

The Cavaliers stayed close after falling behind 1-0 thanks to some gritty work by Sborz in the third. Ole Miss loaded the bases on a single and two walks, but the threat ended when Sborz got Will Allen to line out to third.

“When he got out of those jams and started rolling a little bit, he pitched with a little more confidence, and when you’re doing that with that kind of stuff, it’s tough to hit,” Ole Miss’ Will Allen said.

Sborz said a mound visit from pitching coach Karl Kuhn helped him refocus.

“What he told me was to just let them hit (my) stuff, basically, and just stop trying to miss bats,” Sborz said. “Right after that it kind of fell into place.”

Coman, who went 2 for 4, was in the lineup for the first time at the CWS, taking over for Nate Irving at catcher.

Irving had come to Omaha 3 for his last 34 and hitless in 18 at-bats, but he had come through offensively in Virginia’s first two games. But Coman has been catching Sborz all season, and O’Connor stuck to that plan Saturday. Coman went 2 for 4 with the go-ahead hit an inning after he struck out looking with runners on the corner.

“Being the Saturday catcher really with Josh all year, I’m always ready to play each game,” Coman said. “It is Omaha, but once you get out there and you’re in the moment, it calms you down a little bit and you back to play the game the way you’ve always played it.”

CONOR FOLEY, Sunday Times staff writer, contributed to this report.

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